NJ Landlord Law · 2026-08-21
If your South Jersey rental was built before 1978, and a huge share of the region's housing was, New Jersey now requires you to have it inspected for lead-based paint on a schedule. This is a newer obligation that still catches owners off guard. Here is what it actually requires.
New Jersey enacted a statewide lead-based paint inspection requirement for rental housing that took effect in 2022. It applies to most single-family, two-family, and multi-family rentals built before 1978, and it sits on top of the older federal disclosure rules, it does not replace them. Enforcement runs through your municipality, which is where the certifications get filed and the fees get paid.
The point of the law is simple: identify and address lead hazards in older rentals before a child is exposed, rather than after. For owners, that means inspection is no longer something that happens only when a problem is reported. It is now a routine, scheduled part of holding a pre-1978 rental.
The inspection is required at tenant turnover or every three years, whichever comes first, and in towns that run cyclical inspections it is generally folded into that cycle. The work is done by a certified lead evaluation contractor or by the municipality itself, not by the landlord eyeballing it.
There are exemptions worth knowing: housing built after 1978, units certified as lead-free, seasonal rentals of under six months with the same occupant, and certain buildings already inspected under other state programs. If you are not sure your property qualifies for an exemption, assume it does not until a certified inspector says otherwise.
The law recognizes two inspection methods. A visual assessment looks for deteriorated paint; a dust-wipe sample tests surfaces for lead dust. Which one applies depends on the property and, in part, on whether a child under six lives there, and many municipalities lean toward dust-wipe sampling for a real answer. Your inspector will tell you which your unit needs.
If lead hazards turn up, you must remediate or abate them and then obtain a lead-safe or lead-free certification. That work has to be done by properly certified contractors, and any renovation that disturbs paint in a pre-1978 unit also triggers the federal Renovation, Repair, and Painting rule, meaning an EPA RRP-certified contractor. Expect a per-unit fee for the inspection itself.
Treat lead compliance as a recurring line item, not a surprise. Keep every certification on file, schedule the inspection into your turnover process so it happens while the unit is empty, and use RRP-certified contractors for any painting or renovation on older stock. Owners who bake this into their turn routine barely feel it; owners who ignore it face municipal penalties and a scramble at the worst possible time.
There is also useful overlap with Section 8. HQS inspections already flag deteriorated and peeling paint, so a pre-1978 voucher unit that is kept lead-safe tends to sail through both regimes. We manage the inspection cycle across our own older portfolio, so for the properties we run it is handled on schedule rather than remembered too late.
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We manage the lead-inspection cycle, the RRP-certified repairs, and the certifications on the pre-1978 buildings we run, so it never becomes a violation. Bring us the address and we will tell you where you stand.
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